Spamming arising from automatically generated promotional calls is on the rise, the Commerce, Industry & Technology Bureau says, adding the anti-spam legislative framework being drafted will cover such calls.

In a paper submitted to the Legislative Council Panel on Information Technology & Broadcasting, the bureau noted it received 427 enquiries from January to April on how to deal with telephone cold calls and unsolicited promotional calls generated by machines, popularly known as "spam".

When direct marketing companies generate such calls automatically on an unsolicited basis, it can be considered a spam problem.

Automatically generated promotional calls will cause consumers inconvenience. They incur airtime charges if they take such calls on a mobile phone and may even pay hefty roaming charges if they are outside Hong Kong. Network operators may require resources to handle customer complaints and such calls also use up network capacity.

The bureau is seeking views on the overall legislative framework to tackle spam. Noting the increasing spam arising from automatically generated promotional calls, the bureau intends to cover such unsolicited calls in the framework. The consultation's outcome will be ready in July.

Trade's co-operation sought

Before the anti-spam law is put in place, the Office of the Telecommunications Authority is speaking with fixed-line and mobile operators about developing a code of practice for the trade to regulate automatically generated promotional calls.

It is expected the spam problem arising from such calls could be reduced through the trade's co-operation.